Written Answers

Monday 13 March 2000

Scottish Executive

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3702 by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000, whether the Improving Regulation in Scotland Unit will consider any concerns of businesses regarding the burden of regulation in all sectors including farming, crofting, fishing, quarrying, tourism and whisky and, if not, why not.

Henry McLeish: The IRIS unit will follow up representations from businesses in any sector on any regulatory concern.

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-3702 and S1W-3706 by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000, how the £12 million Business Growth Fund will be administered, whether copies of the application forms will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, whether Local Enterprise Companies (LECs) will have total responsibility for determining applications and whether not giving LECs total responsibility will result in unnecessary delay and bureaucracy in applications to the fund.

Henry McLeish: The Business Growth Fund is administered by Scottish Enterprise (SEn) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Copies of the application forms for the fund have been placed with SPICe although any applicant should be encouraged to discuss the fund with their local LEC in the first instance. The LEC will be able to provide scheme details, as well as general advice on applying. Final decisions are taken centrally by SEn and HIE, taking account of advice from the LEC dealing with each application. This ensures a consistent approach in delivering this national programme across the SEn and HIE areas.

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3713 by Henry McLeish on 27 January 2000, whether it (a) will publish details of the precise way in which it calculates the number of new businesses created, (b) will explain this process to the Parliament, (c) agrees that the methodology for the calculation should be transparent and clearly understandable, (d) will consult, or has consulted, business representative bodies as to how they calculate the number of new businesses created and (e) will consider how the performance of the Scottish Executive in achieving the targets it has set itself can be assessed, in the event that its methodology is not recognised and acknowledged by business representative groups and the Parliament as valid.

Henry McLeish: The recently published Scottish Economic Report , which was laid before the Scottish Parliament in January, provides details of the methods used to calculate new business starts and the business stock. I would be happy to discuss these data with business representative groups.

Enterprise

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the number of new businesses created for each year from 1999-2000 to 2008-09.

Henry McLeish: We have a set an overall target of creating 100,000 new businesses by 2009. Achievement of this target year-by-year will depend on the success of specific initiatives and on the general performance of the economy, which is currently very good.

Finance

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3763 by Mr Jack McConnell on 28 January 2000, whether it will answer parts (a) and (b) of the original question and explain why it did not do so in the original answer.

Mr Jack McConnell: My answer of 28 January explained that any economic consequences of revaluation will follow from the differential changes in sector and location of individual businesses and that revaluation is intended to achieve a neutral effect overall.

Finance

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether arrangements have been made to designate receipts to be paid over by Scottish Ministers to the Secretary of State for Scotland.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Treasury have made, and laid before the UK Parliament, The Scotland Act (Designation of Receipts) Order 2000 (SI 2000/687). This Order replicates the current position as set out in article 8 of The Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Finance) Order 1999 (SI 1999/441). This, in turn, reflects the position that applied prior to devolution and the funds in question do not form and have never formed part of Scotland’s assigned budget.

Further Education Colleges

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list further education (FE) colleges which are close to insolvency and detail any written recovery plans agreed, or awaiting agreement, between FE colleges and the Scottish Further Education Funding Council and outline any other measures planned to address the problems which colleges with large deficits face.

Henry McLeish: The report of the Audit Committee of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Further Education Colleges: Managing Costs , which was published on 9 February, identified 13 colleges with particular financial health problems.

  The report also summarises the status of the recovery plan for each of the 13 colleges. The components of these plans are specific to the circumstances of each college and reflect realistic options to address the college’s future income and expenditure profiles in order to eliminate the deficit and restore financial health. The plans have to be agreed with the Scottish Further Education Funding Council but their implementation is the responsibility of the college Board of Management.

  Another measure, which will assist colleges with large deficits to address their problems, is a review of management within the further education sector. The Funding Council expects to report to Scottish Ministers by May with recommendations on what range and mix of management skills will best serve colleges, and how the best management practice can become the norm.

Gulf War Veterans

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Gulf War veterans there are in prison in Scotland and what offences these veterans committed, specifying the total numbers in prison for each specific type of offence.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information is not available.

Health

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will assure the Parliament that no NHS laboratory tests in Scotland are being performed by unqualified (non-state registered) staff, as alleged by the Institute of Biomedical Sciences.

Susan Deacon: There is no data held either centrally or by Clinical Pathology Accreditation, the main body that accredits laboratories throughout the UK, to indicate inappropriate use of unqualified laboratory staff in Scotland. The Scottish Executive is, however, aware of the problems surrounding recruitment, training and retention of medical laboratory staff. The Scottish Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee (SMASAC) has established a Working Group to identify ways of resolving these issues which will be reporting shortly.

Housing

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether housing transferred and subsequently refurbished under the New Housing Partnership will be required to meet higher energy efficiency standards following their refurbishment than those which applied when the houses were first constructed.

Mr Frank McAveety: The New Housing Partnerships Steering Group are considering the issue of incorporating higher energy efficiency standards following housing transfer. The Executive will take full account of these views when reaching its decision.

Justice

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the First Minister, in making recommendations to Her Majesty's Government in respect of the recent appointment of full time sheriffs, took account of the political affiliations of those recommended for appointments and, if so, which of the sheriffs appointed have been members of political parties and of which political party.

Mr Jim Wallace: No.

Land Purchase

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3614 by Ross Finnie on 24 January 2000, whether it will make representations to Her Majesty’s Government and to the National Heritage Memorial Fund that the new opportunities funding available for community land purchase should be extended to allow inclusion of applications by retiring crofters and farmers.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Land Fund, which is an initiative established within the Lottery funding channelled through the New Opportunities Fund and unrelated to the National Heritage Memorial Fund, will complement new land reform legislation by contributing to funding for land purchase by rural communities, in addition to providing funding for feasibility studies and for community land management and development projects and community-based business and management training and support. It is, therefore, not a suitable vehicle for funding retiral schemes. Accordingly I will not be making any proposals for such modifications to the directions to the New Opportunities Fund in respect of the Scottish Land Fund. Directions in respect of initiatives which apply only in Scotland would be a matter for the Scottish Executive, subject to the agreement of Her Majesty’s Government.

Local Government Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce three-year budgets for local authorities.

Mr Jack McConnell: Local authorities know the aggregate figures for Government Supported Expenditure (GSE) and Aggregate External Finance (AEF) for 1999-2000 until 2001-02, which we announced at the time of the Comprehensive Spending Review in 1998. The figures for 2000-01 and 2001-02 were confirmed in my statement on 6 October and published in our consultation document Spending Plans for Scotland . I made clear in the Scottish Parliament on 1 March that I will be discussing the development of three-year budgeting with CoSLA over the coming months.

Local Government Finance

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial help is to be made available to South Lanarkshire Council for expenditure incurred following severe winds which started on Boxing Day 1998 and lasted into the first few days of 1999.

Mr Jack McConnell: I am pleased to announce that South Lanarkshire Council is eligible for a payment of £234,652 under the Bellwin Scheme. The scheme was triggered on 8 April 1999 following representation from several councils in the central belt and south west of Scotland on costs directly associated with the immediate aftermath of the Boxing Day storms.

  South Lanarkshire Council’s costs were primarily in the revenue costs of removing fallen trees and safeguarding structures that endangered the public safety and in reimbursement of the uninsured excesses of insurance claims for over 9,500 damaged premises.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will answer question S1W-2475 lodged on 11 November 1999.

Sarah Boyack: PQ S1W-2475 was answered today.

Police

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all the countries which have exchange arrangements with the Scottish Police College and whether their human rights records are taken into consideration before exchanges are arranged.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Police College does not operate an exchange training programme. Officers, mostly at Chief Inspector/Superintendent rank or equivalent are accepted by the college for training but no Scottish police officers are trained in other countries. Human rights matters are to the fore in all such training.

  The college has an agreement with Germany and Western Australia to offer training to their police officers. Additionally, in the last two years, the college has provided training, on request and at cost, to officers from Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Bermuda, Holland and China.

Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much public money has been spent evaluating the case for the construction of the Larkhall rail link since 1990.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive does not hold the information requested. The Larkhall to Milngavie project is the responsibility of Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority as the public transport body for the area.

Transport

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2858 by Sarah Boyack on 12 January 2000, when and by whom the decision to abandon the Crossrail project was made; whether it made a unilateral decision to withdraw its support from Crossrail, and whether it has advised the promoters of Crossrail, including Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, of its decision.

Sarah Boyack: I can confirm that a feasibility study on Glasgow Cross Rail was completed in 1995 by Railtrack on behalf of Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority. I understand it is still being evaluated by the authority. The Scottish Executive has made no unilateral decision to withdraw its support from the project since its support has never been sought.

Transport

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will commission a feasibility study into the Glasgow rail tunnel project.

Sarah Boyack: I understand that a study concerning the feasibility of the Glasgow Cross Link project has been commissioned by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive. The findings of this study are expected later this year.

Transport

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) what is the definition of a trunk road and what attributes a road must have to be classified as a trunk road; (b) what trunk road route or routes there are to the north from Edinburgh and the Lothians; (c) why the whole of the A9 is a trunk road with exception of the Cramond Brig to the Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge to Rosyth, A985 turn off; (d) why the A8000 does not qualify as a trunk road being used by east coast traffic; (e) why no trunk roads are connected to the original toll bridges, including the Forth Road, Tay and Erskine Bridges, although these bridges are used as trunk routes and (f) why the A8000 is not receiving national funding for its upgrading.

Sarah Boyack: Shaping the Trunk Road Network , a consultation paper published by the then Scottish Office Transport Minister in 1994, identified the following criteria for determining a trunk road:

  provide the road user with a coherent and continuous system of routes which serve destinations of importance to industry, commerce, agriculture and tourism;

  define nationally important routes which will be developed in line with strategic national transport demands; and

  ensure that these roads which are of predominantly local importance are managed locally.

  Neither these criteria nor the network established from 1 April 1996, following the consultation, have been reviewed subsequently. This means that:

  the M9/A8 route provides the trunk road connection from Edinburgh and the Lothians to the north. There are other trunk road links from this route to areas such as the Western Highlands and the north-east;

  the trunk road section of the M90/A90 to the north-east starts at the commencement of the motorway to the north of the Forth Road Bridge;

  the A90 between this point and the Cramond Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge, the Tay Bridge and the A8000 remain part of the local network; and

  the Erskine Bridge forms an integral part of the trunk road linking the M8 to the A82 across the Clyde Estuary. As to funding any upgrading of the A8000, I refer to my answer of 10 December to Mrs Margaret Smith (S1W-2528).